


a slice of paradise

by spacebuck



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Artist!Steve, M/M, Meet-Cute, Secret Santa Fic, Sickening Fluff, Slice of Life, au: modern, because i'm that late, it's just fluff, preserum!Steve, repairman!bucky, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 04:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5813956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebuck/pseuds/spacebuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Repair men were supposed to be middle aged, balding, professionally friendly but otherwise quiet men who did the job and left, that was the law of the universe, right? The person standing in Steve’s doorway with a mildly concerned expression couldn’t be the repairman, despite how he’d introduced himself. </p><p> </p><p>  <em>Bucky Barnes, here to fix the faulty showerhead?</em></p><p> </p><p>or: the one where steve gets a crush on the repairman, but it works out in the end</p>
            </blockquote>





	a slice of paradise

**Author's Note:**

> so this is a super belated secret santa gift for [timelord-rowan](http://timelord-rowan.tumblr.com) who asked for a modern au, with skinny steve and fluff. i think i managed? idk

This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Repair men were supposed to be middle aged, balding, professionally friendly but otherwise quiet men who did the job and left, that was the law of the universe, right? The person standing in Steve’s doorway with a mildly concerned expression couldn’t be the repairman, despite how he’d introduced himself. _Bucky Barnes, here to fix the faulty showerhead?_

                “Uhh, I am at the right apartment right? 407, Steve Rogers? Shower head malfunction?” The gorgeous man in front of him spoke again, waving his hand a little to get Steve’s attention, and Steve rattled his head. “Going by the state of your shirt, I think I’m in the right place,” the guy said, amused, and Steve looked down. He rubbed a hand self-consciously over his sopping wet shirt, before grabbing the hem, detaching it from his skin – for a few seconds at least.

                “Yeah, yeah sorry, come in – Bucky, you said?” Steve said quickly, stepping back and swinging the door open wider to let Bucky, and his toolbox, into the apartment. “I was expecting …” he started to explain, then trailed off, before he could voice his own inane thoughts.

                “You were expecting?” Bucky prompted, looking like he knew what Steve was thinking.

                Steve scrabbled for a response that made him seem marginally less awkward, and settled on “The wait to be a bit longer, I guess.” Good job Steve, normalcy somewhat regained.

                “Fair enough. I was in the neighbourhood when I got the call.” Bucky grinned, raking his free hand through his hair and tilting his head down a little to properly meet Steve’s eyes. “So, the shower?”

                “Shit, yeah, sorry,” Steve mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face as he turned, heading towards the bathroom. “I have no idea what’s wrong with it,” He started, pausing in front of the bathroom door and glancing over his shoulder. Bucky’s eyes jumped up, and he smiled easily, nodding. There was no way he’d been staring at Steve’s ass, absolutely no way.

                “Well, I’ll take a look at it then, see if I have better luck.”

                Steve nodded slightly, then grabbed the door handle, twisting it but holding the door closed. “Oh and uh, duck.”

                Bucky looked confused for a moment, then ducked instinctively as Steve opened the door, and just avoided a burst of water hitting him in the face. Within a second or two Steve had his hand in the way, deflecting the stream and getting even more soaked, and he led the way in. “It uh, won’t turn off,” Steve said sheepishly, before closing the bathroom door behind Bucky and dropping his hand.

                “On top of, uh, that,” he added, waving his dripping hand in the direction of the shower.

                Bucky stood still for a moment, just looking, before his eyebrows went up, eyes still on the shower. “How?”

                Steve rubbed his hand over his face, making a small noise in the back of his throat.

                “I might have accidentally used it to catch myself when I slipped. Again.”

                “You-“

                “I don’t think it was attached very well.” Steve bulldozed over Bucky’s comment, refusing to hear the man make any comment about his size. Bucky raised an eyebrow, but just nodded, propping his toolbox up on the counter and rummaging through it.

                Though Bucky looked like he’s done talking and ready to do his job, Steve couldn’t help but linger. He _wanted_ to say that it’s because he can’t be bothered fighting the water stream currently hitting the back of the door. He wanted to say he’s wary of letting tradespeople in his house unsupervised.

                Steve knew neither of those things was true.

                He, however, refused to admit it, instead dropping to sit on the closed toilet lid. Bucky shot him a questioning look over his shoulder, but Steve just shrugged a little.

                “Don’t know how long this’ll take,” Bucky said easily, as though he wasn’t asking why Steve was still there without _actually_ asking. Steve made a non-committal noise, tucking a leg up against his chest and just watched Bucky work, swinging his free leg just a little.

                He must have zoned out or something, because it felt like barely a minute had passed before Bucky was crowing in glee, looking far more adorable than he had any right to be. One final, sharp movement that Steve couldn’t see, and the water cut off with a gurgle. He grinned over his shoulder at Steve, making Steve blink in shock, before turning back to the shower and quickly reattaching the shower head.

                “Looks like you’re good to go,” Bucky said, stepping away from the shower and wiping his hands dry on his pants. Steve blinked again, before rattling his head, pushing up to his feet with a yawn. He stretched, back popping a couple of times as he did, before pulling a couple of towels off the rack. He handed one to Bucky, and shook the other one out onto the tile, where it immediately started to suck up water.

                “You look like a drowned rat,” Steve said with what he hoped was a teasing smile, and Bucky’s look of confusion dissolved into a grin.

                “Punk,” the brunet said with a snort, before starting to scrub his hair dry. After a moment of Bucky drying and Steve staring at him awkwardly, Bucky shook his hair out, leaving it fluffed up everywhere and mostly dry. He smiled at Steve, eyes crinkling in the corners just a little, and Steve gave up telling himself he thought anything other than _this man is adorable_.

                They stared at each other for a moment, the silence growing, before Bucky blinked, seeming to snap out of whatever he’d been thinking. “Right, uh, lemme go chuck my stuff in the truck and I’ll write you up an invoice?” Bucky said eventually, still looking like he was thinking too hard.

                Steve nodded, taking he towel out of Bucky’s hands before opening the bathroom door. “Just, uh, leave the front door open so you can get back in.” Steve was proud of himself for sounding mostly normal as he spoke. Bucky nodded, following him out of the bathroom before making his way to the front door. Steve perched himself on the couch as he waited, fiddling with the pencil he’d left on the coffee table.

                He almost jumped when someone cleared their throat behind him, and Steve pushed to his feet, turning to face an almost embarrassed looking Bucky. There was a folded slip of paper in his hands, and Steve realised that it was the invoice. Bucky held it out to him, waving the paper a little, smile back in place, and Steve couldn’t help but smile a little in return.

                “Alright, where do I sign?”

                “Nowhere,” Bucky replied with a raised eyebrow. “All the payment info is on there, just don’t forget,” he added with a grin.

                “You have a lot of people forgetting?” Steve shot back, taking the paper but leaving it folded.

                “More than my boss’d like to admit,” Bucky said with an exaggerated sigh, and Steve laughed, shook his head.

                “Okay, I won’t forget. Thank you for this, by the way. And thanks for coming out on a Saturday too, that must be annoying.” Steve said with a little smile, following Bucky to the door, paper still clutched in his hand.

                “Ah, it’s nothing. The view was worth it. Seeyah Stevie!” Bucky was turning and heading down the hall before Steve could react to that. He was left staring after the man, paper in hand, in nothing but boxers and a tee, for a long moment before a door slamming upstairs brought him to his senses.

                Steve stepped back into the apartment, closing the door before unfolding the paper. As promised, all the payment information was on the slip, but there was something more, that had Steve staring at the paper in astonishment.

                Scrawled across the bottom was a number, and the words _call me?_

 

 

\----–

 

Steve did. Eventually. It took him three days, and seventeen aborted texts, two coaxing friends and one late night dare, but he did.

                Six months, and several amazing, awkward dates, and amazing, less awkward nights, later, he was so immensely glad he had. Well, he had let Sam talk him into it at least.

                Because it meant that he could walk into his apartment, dump his bag on the floor, and crash on the couch, only to have a large, warm, mumbling teddy bear attaching himself to Steve’s side faster than he could have imagined. It meant that after a long day, he could come home to someone, someone who smiled at him and wrapped him up into hugs whenever, curled up with him on the couch and watch shitty straight to DVD movies with.

                Steve was halfway through his homecoming routine when there was a warm pressure against his back. Arms curled around his waist, and Steve couldn’t help but smile, head falling back as he kicked his other shoe off. He honestly hadn’t expected Bucky to be so liberal with the key he’d been given, but he couldn’t say he didn’t like it. “Hey Buck,” he murmured, and felt Bucky smile against the back of his neck before pressing a kiss there.

                “Stevie,” Bucky replied, tucking Steve under his chin. “How was your day? Did you have to deal with that writer again or did your editor finally grow a pair?”

                Steve snorted, abandoning any thoughts of unpacking his back for turning in Bucky’s arms, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend’s jaw. “Yeah, finally. Negotiations are in the works for me to do lines and inks for a comic series, and Josh has worked with the company before, so it should be better. How was yours, you still on call?”

                Bucky nodded slightly, started walking them back towards the couch. “Yeah, for another hour.” He paused just long enough to drop onto the couch and sprawl back, holding his arms out. Steve didn’t hesitate, tugging his sweater off before crawling up after Bucky, tucking himself against the bigger man and looping his arms around Bucky’s waist. “So I was thinking takeout and movies? I still don’t believe you haven’t seen Star Wars.”

                “I’ve seen four of them,” Steve complained, nipping Bucky’s lip in retaliation, and Bucky snorted, pinching his hip. “There’s this new Korean fusion place that delivers?” He suggested after a moment.

                “Four isn’t all of them, we’re fixing that,” was the grumbled response, and Steve rolled his eyes.

                “Buck, food.”

                “Korean sounds good, have you got the menu?”

                Steve nodded, reaching back blindly and snagging one of the pamphlets at random off the coffee table. He was lucky, it was the right one, and he grinned, holding it between them. “You order, I’m gonna go grab a shower. Get me the Jab Chae?” Bucky nodded, releasing Steve to grab the menu, and Steve slipped off the couch, heading for his room.

                When he got out, dressed in his slouching pants and an oversized shirt, Bucky was crouched in front of the TV, fighting Steve’s old DVD player and mumbling under his breath. “You ordered?”

                “This thing is horrible, how d’you stand it?” was the grumbled response, closely followed by a “Yes.”

                Steve stood by the couch for a long moment, watching Bucky grow increasingly frustrated with the player before stepping in, leaning over Bucky’s shoulder and kissing his ear before pressing the one button Bucky was looking for.

                “How do you do that?” Bucky whined, not looking up at Steve as he put the disc in. “I’m pretty sure you have a pact with the thing to make me look dumb.”

                Steve snickered, retreating to the couch, and Bucky followed after a moment, sticking his phone on the table where he could see it. “Food’ll be here soon,” Steve protested when Bucky dropped onto the couch and dragged him over, all but blanketing the smaller man.

                “And I’ll get up when it _is_ here,” Bucky retorted, sliding a hand up Steve’s shirt to rest on the skin of his back. Steve sighed, curling his fingers into the short hair at the back of Bucky’s neck, and Bucky hit play. Music, tinny as always, blared out of the TV’s speakers, and the classic yellow type started to scroll. Steve tucked his chin down, and Bucky leaned up, kissing him lightly before mumbling “Watch the movie, Stevie. Stop fussin’.”

                For once, Steve did as he was told, relaxing under the warm weight of his boyfriend, barely following what was happening in the movie but enjoying it all the same. Bucky hushed him whenever he started to question what was happening, but always kissed him lightly after he did. The food arrived ten minutes in, and Bucky grumbled the entire way to the door and back. Steve teased him about not knowing how to use chopsticks the first time Bucky’s fingers slipped, then Bucky proved himself by using them to steal the bit of meat Steve was about to close his lips around. When Steve pouted, Bucky fed him a bit of his chicken to make up for it.

                Things were good.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](http://brickhousebuck.tumblr.com)


End file.
